Strange days: Bizarre U.S. festivals

Oct. 30, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 12:28 p.m.

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Annie Lockett, 2, and her dad, Joe, of Cincinnati, get acquainted with a Chilean rose-haired tarantula Saturday, April 16, 2005, at Purdue University's 15th annual Bug Bowl, sponsored by the Department of Entomology. Other Bug Bowl activities also on the West Lafayette campus include cricket spitting, a petting zoo and foods made from bugs. Bug Bowl is part of Purdue's Spring Fest, an annual campuswide event that offers free and fun activities. DAVE UMBERGER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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With the hand-carved-worm-grunting totem pole watching over the field, contestants at the Sopchoppy Worm Grunting festival prepare their tools for grunting in Sopchoppy, Fla. PHIL COALE, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Worm grunting queen Amy Stokley, 17, from Sopchoppy, Fla., tries her hand at worm grunting after being named queen of the first Sopchoppy Worm Grunting Festival on Saturday April 7, 2001 in Sopchoppy. PHIL COALE, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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The sculpture of Miracle Mike, the headless chicken stands along the main street in Fruita, Colo. in 2009. DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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In this photograph taken between March 1945 and October 1946 and supplied by Troy Waters, Mike the Headless Chicken of Fruita, Colo., is shown with an unidentified person. Residents of Fruita, a western Colorado town of 11,000, are holding their annual festival for the chicken named Mike, who lived for 18 months after a farmer lopped off his head with an ax but left his brain stem, a jugular vein and one ear intact. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Annie Lockett, 2, and her dad, Joe, of Cincinnati, get acquainted with a Chilean rose-haired tarantula Saturday, April 16, 2005, at Purdue University's 15th annual Bug Bowl, sponsored by the Department of Entomology. Other Bug Bowl activities also on the West Lafayette campus include cricket spitting, a petting zoo and foods made from bugs. Bug Bowl is part of Purdue's Spring Fest, an annual campuswide event that offers free and fun activities.DAVE UMBERGER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

The odd, the creepy and the just plain bizarre. Halloween reminds us that out there is a collection of annual events celebrating the truly strange, no matter the time of year. Here are a few of our favorites.

COLORADO, Fruita

Mike was a chicken who freakishly avoided begin slaughtered by a farmer in 1945. The farmer misjudged his swing of the ax and Mike lived for 18 months before dying. In his honor, the residents of Fruita hold the Headless Chicken Festival every May. Events include a chicken dance contest, the Run Like a Headless Chicken 5k and, naturally, rounds of Pin the Head on the Chicken.

On the second Saturday in April, novices and professionals take to the Apalachicola forest and downtown streets with wooden stakes and iron files to participate in the Worm Gruntin' Festival.

Just what is worm grunting? Stakes are pounded into the ground and files are rubbed over the tops of them, creating a "grunting" noise. The vibrations travel through the ground and make worms think it's raining, so they pop out of the ground.

Activities include live music, contests and games, culminating with the Worm Grunter's Ball. Admission is free.

Cricket spitting and cockroach racing are among the highlights of the annual Bug Bowl, hosted by Purdue University's entomology department. Visitors can take in the insect petting zoo or sample foods with themed ingredients, including teriyaki mealworms and chocolate-covered crickets.

Every October, thousands of fuzzy caterpillars race up a string at the Woolly Worm Festival. The winner of the race is said to predict the severity of the coming winter – the more brown, the milder the winter.

Worms are available for $1 inside the festival grounds – and the winner pulls in a $1,000 prize.

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